KIM Dong Moon (KOR) / RA Kyung Min (KOR) 1* BYE BRUIL Chris (NED) / BRUIL-JONATHANS Lotte (NED) BYE RASMUSSEN Jonas (DEN) / OLSEN Rikke (DEN) 7* BYE SHIRLEY Daniel A (NZL) / RUNESTEN-PETERSEN Sara (NZL) BOURRET Philippe (CAN) / JULIEN Denyse (CAN) ROBERTSON Nathan (GBR) / EMMS Gail (GBR) 4* BYE SIEGEMUND Bjoern (GER) / PITRO Nicol (GER) DENNEY Travis (AUS) / WILSON-SMITH Kate (AUS) CHEN Qiqiu (CHN) / ZHAO Tingting (CHN) 6* BYE ZUEV Nikolaj (RUS) / YAKUSHEVA Marina (RUS) NUGROHO Anggun (INA) / WIDIOWATI Eny (INA) OHTSUKA Tadashi (JPN) / YAMAMOTO Shizuka (JPN) BLAIR Robert (GBR) / MUNT Natalie (GBR) BYE WIDIANTO Nova (INA) / MARISSA Vita (INA) 8* STOYANOV Svetoslav (FRA) / WRIGHT Victoria (FRA) ERIKSEN Jens (DEN) / SCHJOLDAGER Mette (DEN) BYE KIM Yong Hyun (KOR) / LEE Hyo Jung (KOR) 3* BERGSTROM Frederik (SWE) / PERSSON Johanna (SWE) BERES Mike (CAN) / PATRICK Jody (CAN) BYE PRAPAKAMOL Sudket (THA) / THUNGTHONGKAM Saralee (THA) 5* TSAI Chia-Hsin (TPE) / CHENG Wen-Hsing (TPE) DEDNAM Chris (RSA) / UYS Antoinette (RSA) BYE ZHANG Jun (CHN) / GAO Ling (CHN) 2*
Can Kim and Ra win the gold medal in mix? They had to fight against 4 tough pairs if they wanted to do that. Start from Nederland pairs in R 16, Danish pairs in QF, England or Chinese pairs in SF and probably Gao/Zhang in Final. I can't wait.
Yes Yes. If they don't win the gold I'll be very surprised, even with a reasonably tough draw like that one.
It looks as if Him/Ra has the tougher half compared to Zhang/Gao, but I will be very surprised if Kim/Ra does not take the gold. The silver medallist should be Zhang/Gao's but I expect Kim/Lee will have some say in that. Bronze will be between Kim/Lee and Robertson/Emms (or Zhang/Gao if they lost in the semis).
i think the two halves are about equal. bottom half have Eriksen/Schjoldager, Wida/Marissa as well as Kim/Lee. top half have Chen/Zhao, Jonas/Rikke and also Roberson/Emms. but either way, i too think unless there is something unexpected like an illness or injury, the form that Kim/Ra has have recently, they should have little trouble. the Chinese media did say that Zhang Jun has regained that killer smash he possesed during the 2000 Olympics and 2001 WC. they have won against Kim/Ra partly due to that killer smash. since then Zhang Jun seems to have lost his touch and thus power on it.
However, Zhang/Gao will only meet a tough competitor in the semis, while Kim/Ra will have tougher times before that. Also, both Kim and Ra play another event while Zhang Jun only concentrates on mixed doubles. Will have to refer to the schedule to see the effect.
Just looked at the schedule. The mixed doubles matches are scheduled too close with either men's doubles or women's doubles or both, especially in the later stages when matches become more competitive.
